The prosecution has indicted a former section chief at the National Intelligence Service (NIS), Kim Un Sung, and made his arraignment documents public. They vividly describe the political surveillance by the NIS that took place during the government of Kim Dae Jung. It appears that the NIS took the mobile phone numbers of politicians and other important figures and just entered them into their eavesdropping devices so they could listen to every detail of their conversations. They listened in on discussions about finances, office operations, romantic liaisons, and bragging and self-promotion, so it was "surveillance of private citizens" that was as shameless as what took place during the military dictatorships.
Seven to eight recordings a day were summarized in conversational language and reported to the section chief and NIS director. At this point it would be no exaggeration to say that the eavesdropping was an important pillar that backed up the Kim government's running of state affairs. One is left at a loss for words to learn that while on the surface that government claimed to be a "civil rights government" while on the inside it was doing "politics by eavesdropping." You wonder if the former NIS directors who have continued to deny it all, men whom the prosecution has named as co-conspirators, will continue to say so such activities took place. There are rumors that the reason the NIS was able to so openly engage in electronic surveillance is because they had the active protection of powerful insiders in Kim's government. It is unfortunate that prosecutors have yet to clearly ascertain whether or not the findings from the eavesdropping activities were leaked in any way.
Kim's government talked big about stopping the intelligence service's involvement in politics, going so far as to change its name from the Agency for National Security Planning to the National Intelligence Service, so what this all makes you realize once again is how difficult a task reforming the agency really is. Long years of internalized habit and organizational inertia are not done away with overnight because someone at the top briefly calls for that to happen. The current Participatory Government should not get complacent. It should start immediately to thoroughly see whether there are similarly illegal activities going on this very moment. One worries what unforeseen illegalities on the part of the NIS might shock the country again after the next change of government.
The Hankyoreh, 27 October 2005.
[Translations by Seoul Selection]
[Editorial] Surveillance as Bad as the Dictatorships |
